Jolley Gulch

Last Candition:
August 22, 2011

3.6

Soloed this on 4/28/17. Would have been just okay, except there was a fair amount of water running, which made it much more enjoyable, although a much wetter canyon than expected. The Ranger told me to expect a few pools & seepage into the canyon so I decided to forgo my dry bag, not a good idea. I got soaked. Even if with the water I was able to rig a fiddle stick. No webbing for first drop, I imagine it would not last long with all the hikers anyways. second rap was good, don't pull until you know you are all the way down, there is still a rope after the first drop anchored to a wedged log, but you get a clean pull from the bottom so why bother.

Jolley Gulch is a 2-rap wonder. Two mile, sand-trap hike in, then two raps to drop into the canyon. The raps are nice at least. Used fiddlestick from tree near center drainage for 1st rap. After that, it's just a stroll back to the trail. Good upper Zion scenery. Because of the threat of inclement weather, we needed a short, half-day type canyon. This fit the bill. Easy to obtain same-day permit. No water, but the same evening, it began raining in Zion and about .8" fell in the next 24 hours.

We used the bright red webbing on a large tree at the drop in and later regretted not replacing it with a natural color and a rap twice, pull once anchor setup. The 2nd rappell was able to be doubled with a 100' rope with no attached pull cord needed. After that we walked on snow a bit before arriving at open drainage. Also saw some mountain lion tracks.

First rap is a smooth and fun 150'. Threw some webbing on a tree and then came back for it to keep the East Rim hikers from getting too curious. Second rap is a two stage, so don't pull your rope until you're down both drops. Webbing was decent on bolts at second rap.